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NEWSLINE We Listen, We Care
Issue 11.
03/7/2020
Arise and Walk! Focus on the Orthopaedic Technology Department - helping patients walk again… By Dave Opiyo
M
r. Oduor John Ondiege speaks confidently and passionately about the strides his Orthopaedic Technology department has made over the years. Despite this, Mr. Ondiege is under no illusion about the enormity of the task that lies ahead. Clad in a brown suit, a white shirt, and a matching red dotted tie, the white-bearded, 52-yearold born again Christian says his eyes are still firmly rooted on the ball. “It is not time to relax yet as many patients still require my services,” quips the consultant Prosthetist/ Orthotist. In a one-hour interview with Newsline, Mr Ondiege, born in Ugenya Constituency in Siaya County, says his work is inspired straight from the Bible while referring to a story where Jesus healed a man who had been crippled for thirtyeight years. “Get up, pick your mat and walk – Jesus told the man,” Mr. Ondiege says while quoting John 5:8. “This is exactly what we are doing in our department. Helping people walk again,” he says. He goes on: “We are a department that produces results…our work is seen. We can only be compared with what is written in the Bible…when somebody comes to us, unable to walk,
Kenyatta National Hospital
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we will help treat his condition and within a week or two, he will start walking, either with an aid. This is akin to a miracle.” This, he says, is done by the use of a prosthesis, an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth. Prostheses are intended to restore the normal functions of a missing body part. A first-time visitor to the department’s ‘workshop’ will be amazed by the goingon. From finished products displayed to others that are still being made. The department equally has a number of machines that have expertly been put to use to come up with the prosthesis. They include a Router a multipurpose machine used for shaping both metal, wood, plastic, and sponge. Others include an Oven, (moulding or draping cast), Column drilling machine (Heavy-duty drill works), Second oven (drying cast), column grinding machine (shaping, sharpening and cutting metal), angle grinding Machine (smoothening surfaces and cutting metal), Jigsaw (cutting plastic materials) amongst others.“We have learnt how to make all these prostheses ourselves. From our training, we know who needs what. For instance, if one requires a crutch, we know how to make it, the type
Youtube: Kenyatta National Hospital Official Page